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Inviting the critics to see a new show that is the closing segment of an autobiographical trilogy is one thing. Obliging them to sit through parts one and two, for the second time, in order to see the finale, takes chutzpah. But actor/auteur director Mani Soleymanlou has no shortage of that. In his trilogy, made up of segments Un, Deux and Trois, but collectively marketed simply as Trois, he not only defies the critics, he takes on the whole of contemporary Quebec society, shedding light on a host of absurdities unique to this time and place.

On July 9, 2004, a plane touched down in Tehran carrying a man Canada no longer wanted. Ashkan Forsat was born in Iran in 1978, and his family fled the country a decade later. They asked for refugee status in Canada, settled down in Montreal and, in 1991, were granted permanent-resident status.

Anyone who has passed along Sussex Drive over the past 50 days or so would have noticed 10 Iranian Canadians on hunger strike in front of the American Embassy. As their health deteriorates, their appeal to the Canadian and American governments to intervene effectively against Iraqi brutality would appear to be continuing to fall on deaf ears.

The post-election trials of the opposition in Tehran resemble the Soviet purge trials of the 1930s. Up to now, the regime has generally operated — or at least pretended to do so — on what is called in Iran the “Islamic Republican” philosophy.

Sovereignists in Mercier saw their future Monday night – and it’s not the Parti Québécois. Amir Khadir, the outspoken physician who shares the masthead of upstart Québec Solidaire with community activist Françoise David, appeared ready to win the riding from Daniel Turp, the PQ incumbent.